Seven
I RETURN TO THE RECTORY and check the answering machine before heading to the hospital to make some sick calls. In many ways, this is very much like what I did two weeks ago. One woman, who attends Mass daily, is there for a gallbladder operation. A man I recognize more from Knights social events than Sunday Mass is recovering from a knee replacement. Then there’s the college student, in for tests for what she discreetly calls “female problems,” though her mother confides in me that they suspect it could be cancer. I know each one, but there are a few more people I don’t know who asked for a priest to stop by. I talk to some, but mostly listen. I distribute Communion to those who desire it, and I also hear one confession.
I’ve done all this before. In seminary, they train us for v
